Who Doesn't Love Glitter?

I was a bad blogger last month. Not that I think too many people read this, but for those few that do, I apologize. I only had a few posts and shame on me!

I did manage to do a lot of tutorials and nail ideas I just didn't get around to posting them, so I will make up for it this month.

My first October post has nothing to do with fall just a cute glitter mani I did for a friend. I did not post step by step instructions on this one because it's a lot like my post on glitter ombre nails. The only difference was we did less glitter on the bottom and one nail covered in the silver glitter.

Thanks to Amanda for being my hand model on this one!

Ombre Tiger Gel Mani Tutorial

I got a little bored the other day and wanted to try the tiger mani with the gel polish. I've done it before with regular polish. You can see those pictures here. That one had white and orange. This time I decided to use neon orange and neon yellow.

What you will need:

• Black polish
• Orange polish
• Yellow polish 
• Glitter accent (I used gold glitter)
• Realllllllly thin nail brush

Step 1: Start by prepping your nails as normal (cut, file cuticles etc). Then put on your base coat (cure base coat if your are doing gel)

Step 2: Now, paint the orange polish 3/4 of the way up your nail starting at the cuticle and going up. **Do not cure yet**

Step 3: Now, using your yellow polish, paint the tip you left uncolored by the yellow, and paint down and just a little over the orange. The gel polish because it doesn't dry by air, will kind of run together. This is why you do not want to cure after you paint the orange on.

Step 4: Now once you have done this to all of your fingers, cure the polish. Repeat step 3. You want two coats to give you that ombre. And again, with the gel, it will blend together mixing, but be careful not to use too much polish.

Step 5: With your nail brush paint black stripes over the nail. Make them thicker on the sides and go outward thinner to look more like tiger stripes. If using the gel, cure the black stripes in the UV lamp.

Step 6: Add glitter over some of the black tiger stripes to accent. Cure if using gel.

Step 7: Top coat (if using gel... you guessed it, cure!) 

Step 8: Go out and show off your cute DIY mani! Go ahead brag that you did it yourself. I give you permission!

Heart and Design Mani

Fun and cute but I smeared the heart! 

I had fun playing with some designs. I got the idea for this manicure from a picture I saw on Pinterest. It didn't turn out perfect but it was a lot of fun.

I didn't take pictures to do a tutorial but it was actually quite simple.

Thumb: Paint nail with the two colors. Don't worry about making the line even because you will just put the gems over it. Once colors are mostly dry place the gems in a line down the nail. See easiest way to apply gems in this post.

Index Finger: Paint all over with the lighter color. With the darker color add a heart. See how to do the hearts in the heart mani tutorial.

Middle Finger: Paint the entire nail with the dark color. Once nail is mostly dry but still a little tacky, apple the gem towards the cuticle of the nail.

Ring Finger: Paint all over with light color. Once light color is dry, paint stripes in different directions. There is no rhyme or reason to this one, just so it looks good.

Pinky: Just like the middle finger, paint the entire nail with the lighter color. Once nail is mostly dry but still a little tacky, apple the gem towards the cuticle of the nail.

Top coat, let dry, and you are done!

**Make sure when you top coat, do two coats on the nails that have the gems.

Another angle, the last pic didn't have the ring finger! Whoops...

Striped Dot Nail Tutorial

Striped Dot Manicure

Alright folks, I am back for another fun quick nail tutorial!

This one looks like it may be a little hard but it is actually very easy.

All you need:
- Dotting tool
- Two different color polishes
- Gems for accent

Start by painting your nails your all over color. In this case, I used the Gelish Harmony 'Seafoam'. A nice spring time color. And for the accent we used a black polish.


Next, start by creating a few dots using a dotting tool with a different color from your all over color onto your nail. We chose to put the dots going vertical all the left side of the nail.

Continue creating the dots in a straight line. Try to make each dot the same size. Practice using the dotting tool by putting the color onto some foil and dipping the dotting tool into the polish on the foil and creating dots on the foil. This way you can know how much polish you need on the tool in order to get the size you want on your nail.

Now, finish the rest of your nails, and if you want to add something different, try accenting different nails by placing a rhinestone instead of a dot. Also we created a diagonal line on the thumb to create a different effect.

Have fun with it and try different colors and designs! Thanks to my awesome Mommy for being my hand model on this tutorial :)

We did this using the gel polish. Please keep in mind if you are trying designs with the gel polish that you need to cure each coat. After we put the all over color on, we cured it in the UV light. Then we did another coat of the all over, cured again. We did the dots with black gel polish, then cured the dots in the UV light. Then we added the gems, and did two coats of the top coat, curing it after every coat.

If you do this with regular polish make sure to let each coat dry in between so you don't have any lumps or bumps.

Fun Easter / Spring Nails

Today just a quick tutorial for a great spring or Easter nail. I like this take on an Easter Egg without being too literal about it.

I got this idea from a Pinterest pin, so I cannot claim the creativity on this one. However, I loved it so much I had to try and recreate it.

Start by taking an all over color. Choose something light so that the overlay will show up. I chose Harmony Gelish Seafoam.

After you paint your 1 or 2 coats of an allover color, paint a diagonal line with your thin nail brush with a black.

Fill in the tip of the nail from the diagonal line up with black polish.

Using a dotting tool, make medium sized dots over the black polish.

Use a thin nail brush to create a glitter accent diagonally where the light color meets the black.
Lastly, finish with a top coat!

I will post pictures when I do it next :-( sadly I didn't have my camera while I was doing this.
Enjoy!

This was done with gel nail polish. The base color is
Gelish Harmony Seafoam

Ladybug Nails

I have seen these cute little bugs all over Pinterest and nail blogs for awhile. So today I finally decided to paint these gals on my fingers. I used the instructions found in the DIY Nail Art book by Catherine Rodgers as a baseline, but added my own things here and there.

I started by painting my nails red.

Next drew a line down the center of each nail with black polish.

Then drew a small half circle kind of shape at the base of each nail.

Then, I filled in each half circle with black polish.

I used a dotting tool and dotted the spots on the lady bugs.

Lastly, I used the same dotting tool to add the eyes.

I love the way they turned out! I will be doing these again.

Lady bug nail art

New Book = New Nails!

I got a book for Christmas and I love it! It's called DIY Nail Art. The next day I tried one of the ideas in the book, and I loved it.

I am going to try a lot of the ideas and post them on here. I first want to give credit to the book and the author. 'DIY Nail Art' by Catherine Rodgers. I am not creative enough to come up with some of these on my own so check out her book. You can find it on amazon here.

Here is the first one I tried. It looked like it was going to be super complicated but it was actually very easy. Like the author states in the book, the biggest thing is to ensure you make sure each coat completely dries.

Turned out great! I was having a little trouble with the stripes, but I think that will come with time. I will be trying another one very soon.

Pink Cheetah nails with silver Zebra stripes over black.

Ho Ho Holiday Nails #2

This one was easy. Most of my nail posts are... because I am not too good at this yet and anything super fancy doesn't seem to turn out!

I did red then topped it with gold. Then I did a green tip.

Easy and cute!

I did the red and gold with gel nail polish
then a few days later added the green tips with
regular polish so I could take it off
if I got bored of it.

Easy Holiday Nail

I've been absent for a few weeks. The holidays have been coming and I've been busy. That's not an excuse not to post at least a nail idea.

So here is my easy holiday nail tutorial.

Step 1. Paint all over green.

Step 2. Use scotch tape (nail must be completely dry) and create a diagonal design.

Step 4. Paint red over exposed nail.

Make sure underneath color is completely dry before you put
tape on or it will ruin the effect.

Step 5: Remove tape and paint over with top coat.

I told you it was easy! Happy Holidays!

Cute Wedding Gel Nail Idea

Simple, cute, and elegant. If you want something a little different than french tips, this is a cute idea. Try doing a gel polish for your wedding nail instead of acrylic. That way you won't have to get used to the longer nails, and this can give you a more natural look but give you the lasting chip free protection!

Gelish Harmony color - Princess Tiara with waterfiled on ring finger 

Stripe Tip Manicure

Blue gel with gold stripe

Again with the easy. I like quick and easy but something a little different.

Today I went with a shimmer blue and accented it with a gold stripe. I did do this with the gel polish. You can obviously do it with regular nail polish too, just carefully apply the stripe before your top coat. I would do this while your under coat is still a little wet to help the stripe stick.

Now with the gel polish, a friend and I tried doing it after the cured top coat. We did this thinking that the tacky color layer would cause the manicure to have imperfections etc. But the stripes did not stick well to the cured top coat, so this time I did this after my second coat of cured polish color. I did not spray with alcohol or do a top coat. As the color was still tacky from the color coat the stripes stuck perfectly.

If any of the edges started to come up, I just used my orange stick to put them back in place, then did the top coat over all nails and cured. Worked great!

Blue gel polish with gold stripe

Criss Cross Nails

Really easy and really cute!

OK did a manicure on a friend last night with the gel polish and decided to add a little bling to it. We did a silver ribbon and randomly criss crossed the ribbon on her different nails.

Do your normal color first. then before the top coat add the ribbons. Then top coat and you've got a little extra bling to you manicure!

Thanks Tiffany for being my hand model :)
We left the pinkies plain and crossed the rest. 

Bella's Vampire

For all you gel nail fanatics out there, I had to post my most recent gel manicure. This color was perfect because it's a deep blood red/purplish color and it's almost Halloween! The color is called Bella's Vampire. I have to admit I am a huge Twilight fan, but that's not why I bought the color. I bought it because it's a beautiful color.

It looks almost black in non-natural light. But when you go into the sun, or rooms with lots of natural light you can see the purple color start to come through.

I topped my ring fingers with a gold glitter for accent. If you are wanting instructions on how to do the gel manicure, go here.

Anyway, wanted to post my review on this color. Please excuse my messy cuticles. I was doing this manicure in room that was not well lit, thus I got color on the cuticles which I always try to avoid.

Enjoy!

Gel nail polish, Bella's Vampire topped with Vegas Nights -
Gelish Harmony brand

Easy Candy Corn Nails

In festive fashion, I have decided to post my candy corn nail tutorial. The one thing I don't like about most candy corn nail tutorials is the fact that the tip can get really thick. So I tried this one last October and it worked great. I also added a layer of gold glitter to give this some pizzazz!

This can be done with regular polish or the gel polish. I did mine with the gels. I had a bunch of neon colors, so I used my neon yellow and orange to make it stand out even more.

First things first; prep your nails as needed. (file, cuticle pusher, clip, etc)

Now, start with your base color. Some people like the white by the cuticle, I decided to have white tips to play off the French manicure.

Don't paint all the way up. Just 3/4 the way. I should have left more nail showing than I did. Because I didn't, it caused the white to show the yellow through just a tad. So don't go as far as as I show here.

The reason why I went 3/4 of the way up is so I don't have to do multiple layers of the orange.  This makes it faster and so it's not so thick.

Next stripe your orange. If you paint a stripe horizontal across your nails, it's much easier to get a straight line. It's OK if you get color on your fingertip. Use an orange stick to get anything that runs. Also make sure you don't have too much polish on your brush.



Now, repeat the above step with your last color.

If you want, top with a glitter.

Lastly, paint your top coat.

As you can see, they are not thick at all and super cute! You can do the same thing for the 4th of July with red, white, and blue!

Candy Corn nails with glitter. Easy and festive!

ZOMG! Super cute easy nail polish

I did this the other day and had to post. So cute and easy. Had to share!

Step 1: Paint your base coat.

Step 2: Paint the tip with your accent french tip color. Note: you do not have to have this in a perfect line, we will blend the tip.

Step 3: Take a make up sponge and lightly put polish on the tip of the sponge. Lightly blot and blend the color so you can't see the hard line of the french tip. Repeat step 3 until desired color is achieved.

You don't need a lot of polish on the sponge.
Instead, blot multiple coats.

Step 4: Light paint over the tip and just a little further down from the blending with an accent glitter.

Step 5: Paint with Top coat.

Note: You can do this with the gel polish as I did below, just make sure you cure each time you put any polish on.

You can see on the pinky I didn't blot as many coats and you can see the hard line.
Ensure you blot enough coats so you can blend the line.

Let's start at the tips...

Too many people have told me that I am frugal. AKA, I am cheap. That's OK, I call it smart shopping. I decided to start a blog and post about ways I like to save money. I won't go and post coupons and tell you how to get all "extreme coupon-er"  on me, but I will post ideas of how you can incorporate saving some $$  in your daily routines.

One of my favorite ways to save is doing my own nails at home. I can't even begin to calculate how much I wasted at the nail salon just to pay too much and wait too long to get my nails done. Now, don't get me wrong, I do enjoy the whole experience; especially when they massage my arms... mmmmm...,  but I would rather invest some money up front and save some dough long term. Plus how cool is it to show off a kick ass manicure to your girlfriends and brag that you did it yourself?

My first post is all about the too-hot-right-now gels. Yep the $35-$50 gel manicure you can get at the salon but do all by yourself at home. You do have to invest a little bit of money up front, but in the long run you will save so much and enjoy it much more. Also, for those of you who have never done gel nails, this manicure lasts chip free for up to two weeks! It's magic and it's awesome.

OK - here's what you will need and my recommendations on where to get the items.

A UV Nail light. I procured mine from amazon and got an amazing deal.

Picture courtesy of  Salon Edge

Salon Edge 36W Nail UV Lamp - This lamp runs about $30 with free shipping and it works great. If you are going to do the gel nails at home, this lamp is the first thing you need, because you have to cure the gel polish. This UV lamp is the way to go as it's large enough for one hand or foot, and it's lightweight and not clunky which is great for storage.

Side note: I love amazon, you may get tired of how much I reference amazon.com. I am in no way endorsed by them I just love that website. It's the best thing since toaster strudels. Oh but not quite as buttery and sweet... Mmm toaster strudels... OK anyway. So yeah I get a lot of my stuff on amazon and you should too because it's awesome. 

Picture courtesy of Harmony

Next, you will need the polish. Now in order to do gel nails you need the special gel polishes. If you are really nice to me I will tell you a secret in one of my other posts of how you can get away with using your OLD normal polishes with the gel system. But, regardless you will need the base gel and the top coat gel. I personally like the Harmony Gelish polishes. I have had great results with them and I love the color options.

Again I suggest getting your polishes on amazon, because last time I wen't to sally's they only had the mini's and they were the same price as the full one's on amazon. Here is a great deal on base gel's and top coat gels. They are about $28 for the set plus about $2 for shipping.

Now, you need a gel color. The gel polish is where this can get pricey. I suggest starting with one or two colors, and over time building up your color collection. Amazon.com is a great place to get the gel polish. You can also try ebay. They also have sites like Trade Design dedicated to gel polish and you can order from them but I find they are a little more expensive.

Lastly, all you need is a little bit of rubbing alcohol, and a nail buffer, and you can do all of this on your own. I have posted a separate blog on instructions of how to do the gel manicure here. For those of you who know how to already - I hopefully have given you some handy tips of where to find the supplies in an affordable manor for this magic manicure that lasts for weeks and does not chip!

                                                 Oh look at my pretty finished product...

This is after two weeks so ignore all the nail growth.
I used Ooba Ooba  blue and topped it with waterfield.
Instructions on how to do gel nails here.